Japan PM vows to stay on despite election debacle
Ishiba says he will not allow a “political vacuum”
JAPAN’S Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed on Monday (Oct 28) to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with the ruling party’s worst result in 15 years.
Ishiba, 67, called Sunday’s election days after taking office on Oct 1, but voters angry at a slush fund scandal punished his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan almost non-stop since 1955.
With the LDP-led coalition losing its ruling majority, Ishiba vowed to stay in office, saying he would not allow a “political vacuum”.
“I want to fulfil my duty by protecting people’s lives, protecting Japan,” Ishiba told reporters.
He said the biggest election factor was “people’s suspicion, mistrust and anger” over a scandal, which saw LDP figures pocket money from fund-raising events and which helped sink his predecessor Fumio Kishida.
“I will enact fundamental reform regarding the issue of money and politics,” Ishiba told reporters, repeating that voters had delivered a “severe judgment” on the party.
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The yen hit a three-month low, sliding more than one per cent against the US dollar.
The LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito took 215 seats in the lower house of parliament, down from 279. Two Cabinet ministers and Komeito’s leader, Keiichi Ishii, lost their seats.
The biggest winner of the night, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), had 148 seats, up from 98 previously, but also still well short of the 233 majority.
A vote on who will take the premiership may be held in a special parliamentary session on Nov 11, multiple ruling coalition sources told Kyodo News on Monday.
There remains uncertainty over whether Ishiba – who became premier less than a month ago – can survive after the drubbing. Smaller parties also made gains and their role in negotiations could prove key.
Reiwa Shinsengumi, founded by a former actor, trebled its seats to nine after promising to abolish sales tax and boost pensions.
The anti-immigration and traditionalist Conservative Party of Japan, established in 2023 by nationalist writer Naoki Hyakuta, won its first three seats.
The number of women lawmakers meanwhile reached a record high at 73, according to NHK, but still represent less than 16 per cent of the legislature.
“It seems unlikely that he (Ishiba) will survive to lead a new government as prime minister ... though it is possible he could stay on as caretaker,” said Tobias Harris, founder of Japan Foresight, a political risk advisory firm.
CDPJ leader Yoshihiko Noda has said he would work with other parties to try and oust the incumbents, though analysts see this as a more remote possibility.
The LDP has ruled Japan for almost all of its post-war history, and the result marked its worst election since it briefly lost power in 2009 to a precursor of the CDPJ.
Ahead of the election, Japanese media had speculated that if this happened, Ishiba could potentially quit, becoming the nation’s shortest-serving prime minister in the post-war period.
On Monday, the LDP’s election committee chief, former premier Junichiro Koizumi’s son Shinjiro Koizumi, resigned.
The most likely next step is that Ishiba will now seek to head a minority government, with the divided opposition seen as probably incapable of forming a coalition of their own, analysts said.
Ishiba said on Monday that he was not considering a broader coalition “at this point”.
“Lawmakers aligned with (former prime minister Shinzo) Abe were cold-shouldered under Ishiba, so they could potentially pounce on the opportunity to take their revenge,” Yu Uchiyama, political science professor at the University of Tokyo, told AFP.
“But at the same time, with the number of LDP seats reduced so much, they might take the high road and support Ishiba for now, thinking it’s not the time for infighting,” he said.
“As long as our own lives don’t improve, I think everyone has given up on the idea that we can expect anything from politicians,” restaurant worker Masakazu Ikeuchi, 44, told AFP on Monday in rainy Tokyo.
“I think the outcome was a result of people across Japan wanting to change the current situation,” said fellow voter Takako Sasaki, 44.
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